‘If we have to change the rules, let’s change them,’ says conservative Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau.

France’s interior minister has signalled he will push for tighter immigration policies as the far right seeks to use a gruesome murder to put pressure on the government.

Addressing the arrest of a Moroccan man for the murder of a 19-year-old female student, Bruno Retailleau said on Wednesday that the “abominable crime” required not just rhetoric, but action, as far-right parties demanded when commenting on the case.

“It is up to us, as public leaders, to refuse to accept the inevitable and to develop our legal arsenal, to protect the French,” Retailleau said. “If we have to change the rules, let’s change them.”

The hardline rhetoric on migration is not new from Retailleau, a member of the conservative Republicans party who has previously advocated for stricter immigration rules and quicker deportations.

The suggestion is in line with the demands of the far-right National Rally (RN) party, which has threatened it could topple France’s fragile governing coalition if its immigration concerns are not addressed.

“It’s time for this government to act: our compatriots are angry and will not be content with just words,” RN chief Jordan Bardella said of the murder of the student, identified only by her first name Philippine.

Greens lawmaker Sandrine Rousseau pushed back against the anti-migrant rhetoric, warning that the far right was using the murder case to “spread its racist hatred”.

Bungled deportation

The unnamed suspect in the killing has been identified as a 22-year-old male Moroccan national.

He was arrested on Tuesday in the Swiss canton of Geneva, according to the AFP news agency.

According to the prosecutors, the suspect was convicted in 2021 of a rape committed in 2019, when he was a minor.

The suspect had been due to be deported from France after serving time in jail for the crime, Le Monde newspaper reported.

He was sent on June 20 to a detention centre for undocumented migrants pending his removal.

However, a judge set him free on September 3, noting that the deportation process faced administrative delays, under the condition that he check in regularly with police.

Three days later, the paperwork to deport him was completed, but the man had disappeared, they said.

France routinely issues deportation orders, but only about 7 percent of them are enforced, compared with 30 percent across the European Union.